Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Abstract
Turkmenistan had been part of Muslim Turkestan before it became one of the Soviet republics in 1925 (Dublitch and Muller 1990, p. 9). The republics of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan were also parts of the former Turkestan (Rawa, Olivier, Translation of Mansouri, p. 53). It is a multinational republic, and Turkmens form the dominant nationality. Other national-ethnic groups such as the Russians, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, and a small number of Tartars, Ukrainians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis and Karakalpak live in the Republic as minorities. The majority of Soviet Turkmens reside in this Republic, and few Turkmens live in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and the North Caucasus, and the Astrakhan Oblast (belonging to the Russian Federation). (Britannica, 1990, p. 1100)
Turkmens belong to the European group, which are accompanied by a small Mongolian racial mixing (Turkmens, P.484). Thus, they can be classified mainly as Caucasian or White race, which at the same time is more or less mixed with the yellow race.
The religion of the Sunni Turkmens is Hanafi and their language is Turkmen (one of the branches of the Altai-Turkish language). Dublitch and Mueller write about Turkmenistan that, when the Soviet government began to modernize the area, the Turkmen were nomadic (1990, p. 9). Nearly half of the people in the republic now live in villages and half of the people in the cities.
The Turkmen manpower has been discussed here in terms of quantitative and qualitative aspects and demographic, social, cultural and economic issues in relation to this newly independent republic. Turkmenistan is currently a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which has recently joined the ECO Economic Cooperation Organization.
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